The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. It includes over 164,000 members, and is the world's largest scientific society.

The society announced at the event on Sunday that the winner of the 2013 Priestley Medal by ACS went to Pete J. Stang, a professor of chemistry at the University of Utah and editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).

He won a National Medal of Science last year for his "creative contributions to the development of organic supramolecular chemistry and for his outstanding and unique record of public service."

According to ACS, Stang has "pioneered" research in the field of supramolecular chemistry, which is the study of how molecules come together and build new substances with complex 2D and 3D architectures.

“It´s like a Lego set with individual building units,” Stang said in a press release. “You can make complicated structures and systems.”

There will be 8,600 presentations taking place at this year's big event, and you can look to redOrbit.com to help provide you with news about the big topics here, as we cover it live.